What is a book blurb and how the hell do you write one? Is there a magic formula? Well, as it happens, there kind of is. And I’m sort of going to give it to you.
Dissecting The Blurb: It’s A Formula, Not A Torture Instrument
Tag: Writing
Tark And Mara Make Art Pay
The terrifyingly powerful Tark and Mara form a plan to find a true and quantifiable value for art, so that they can quadruple it, and then watch it increase. And if you have a spare million or three lying about, you can do it too.
Your Annual Review Of Things That Haven’t Happened Yet
Time for my now-annual tradition of reviewing the events of the book world before anything has actually happened, because I’ll be far too busy in December 2016 – smiting my enemies and sewing appliqué onto my elbow patches, etc – to do it after events have passed. This also saves you time: after reading this, you needn’t bother with the end of this year at all. Isn’t that wonderful?
‘Tis The Season To Hate Yourself: 10 Anti-Resolutions For Writers
In just 6 days, you became fat, ugly, lazy, stupid, weak, and a failure. How did all this happen in the seconds since Christmas? But just try the Anti-Resolution Diet for Writers, and watch the self-loathing fall away.
Probably The Most Disingenuous Blog Post In The World (With 45% Extra Lies)
It’s the time of year when all those involved in sales choose to ignore lovely loyal customers in favour of their shiny new ones. It’s a terrible state of affairs, which is why, in this blogging review of 2015, I have included several scandalous and downright disgusting lies, which only beloved old blog readers will be able to identify. These shocking, vile and unbelievable lies are only a clickbait, sorry, a click away!
The 2015 Book Trends Review, Er, Reviewed
I did my review of 2015 last January, because I was confident that I would be far too busy in December with things I hadn’t made up yet. At the time, I was fairly certain I’d be flat out right now with glittering parties, dazzling the hoi-polloi with my witty repartee. Sadly, I had to ditch that in…
I Hate Women’s Fiction And I’ll Tell You Why
If Colm Toibín’s Brooklyn had been written by a woman, would it have been a smash hit? Would anyone have cared one whit for a story about a young woman and her domestic struggles, if that young woman had been created and written by another woman? No. They wouldn’t.
How To Know If You’re In A Historical Fiction Novel
It’s been a while, ladies and gentlemen… remember How To Know If You Are A Chick-Lit Heroine? Or How To Know If You’re A Cop In A Crime Novel? Not to mention How To Know If You’re In A Young Adult Novel, and my personal favourite, How To Know If You’re In A Literary Fiction Novel. Well,…
Tark And Mara Create Post-Bloggerism
“I’m tired of blogging.” Tark pushed the 24 carat gold-plated Macbook away from him. Autumn sunshine danced through the stained-glass atrium of the Dublin penthouse, making a disco ball of Tark’s unwitting head. He looked at his wife, who was reclining on the 18th-century chaise longue upon which Marie Antoinette once gently farted following a massive feed of…
A Look Back At The Evolution Of Publishing With The British Library (kind of)
That sounds awfully highfalutin, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s Saturday morning. Who wants to read about the history of publishing at this hour of a bank holiday weekend? Don’t worry. I wouldn’t do it to you. I just thought I might share some resource news with you before I go into hibernation, because the clocks are going back…
Tara Sparling writes 